Massimo Locatelli

Massimo Locatelli propone di leggere nel noir e nel thriller un grande universo narrativo che, grazie alla capacità evocativa originaria dei compiti di problem solving e di mind reading, offre allo spettatore contemporaneo un luogo dove mettere alla prova la propria emotività e costruire attraverso le emozioni il senso della propria identità.

Scopo di questo saggio è quello di definire il rapporto tra cinema e musica in Italia nei suoi aspetti legati specificamente alla riproduzione del sonoro, a partire dalla ricostruzione dell’assetto base della nostra industria cinematografica nell’immediato dopoguerra, dapprima sulla base del modello dell’alta fedeltà, successivamente attraverso il lancio della stereofonia in sala nel 1953 e infine con la diffusione di quest’ultima tecnologia, alla fine del decennio, nelle case e negli spazi pubblici dedicati all’intrattenimento. Si vedrà allora come nel settore della riproduzione sonora il cinema abbia conosciuto forme moderne di organizzazione, legate non semplicemente alla vecchia impresa familiare, o a figure autoreferenziali come i grandi produttori di Cinecittà; e come, dal punto di vista dei consumi, il lancio della stereofonia abbia spostato l’interesse dell’utente dalla tecnologia e dal contenuto sonoro al proprio spazio di vita, facendo emergere comportamenti di consumo ancora molto differenziati socialmente ma che assieme – è un momento di forti contraddizioni – iniziano a definirsi come stili esperienziali. The purpose of this paper is to define the relationship between cinema and music in Italy, in its aspects specifically related to the reproduction of sound, starting from the reconstruction of the basic structure of our film industry in the immediate Postwar period, initially based on the high-fidelity model; then through the launch of the stereo sound in the cinemas in 1953; and, finally, to the spreading of this new technology, at the end of the decade, in the homes and public spaces dedicated to entertainment. We will see, then, how in the field of sound reproduction, cinema knew modern forms of organization, not simply related to the old family business, or to self-referential figures such as the big producers of Cinecittà; and how, in terms of consumption, the launch of stereo has shifted the interest of the user from the technology and sound content to his living space, bringing out consumption patterns still very different socially, but that together – in a time of strong contradictions – begin to define themselves as experiential styles.

In this essay cinema is set at the centre of the soundscape of immediate postwar Italy, at the time when the big screen was acquiring greatest importance in its role as a catalyzer – not purely in a technological perspective – of national imagination, but at the same time was preparing to give way to a new audiovisual system. The background evidence is that of a fairly well-known development of remediation that propelled cinema to the peak of popular imagination in 1950s Italy, subsequently repositioning it within the fledgling audiovisual system under the impulse of the uneven industrialisation of the country. To gain an understanding of this evolution, it is fundamental to take into account the relation of consanguinity of cinema with the acusmatic media of radio and the gramophone disc. The resulting trends were twofold. On the one hand, a process of mediation led Italians to adopt a new position within the social system that was taking shape; that is to say, the viewers began to familiarise themselves with new listening techniques (spatialisation of sound, position and posture of the body in the sound space, redefinition of perception standards and of aesthetic taste, electrification of sound on the level both of production and reproduction). Thus one of the functions 1950s cinema was called upon to fulfil was bring about a smooth transition between the new mode and the pre-existing models of production, distribution and enjoyment of motion pictures. On the other hand, numerous formulae of discursive negotiation sprang up, accompanying, driving or impeding this process; among such formulae, a fundamental role was played by technology, not least the technology involved in sound reproduction.